lucky numbers. all right? so it's in the bank. i am mega rich! no more slaving away for the man 30 minutes a day four days a week. welcome to "way too early" on this thursday, november 29th. you're watching the show that barely got on air this morning. like millions of you are sapped dreams of not showing up to work today on hold. back to work, guys. enjoy your $12 of cool winnings. good morning. i'm bill karins. speaking of a lottery, long shot, don't drop your coffee. i'm your guest host this morning. i know what you're thinking. some catastrophic end of day storm ahead or that nice weather men don't finally snap and don't go soprano style. i'll be bringing you the news this morning. we have a lot to cover. including a statement by the president who is stepping up to

defend u.n. ambassador susan rice from new attacks by republicans. later, a brawl in boston. the nets and celtics battle it out in the front row on top of fans. but first, the story that everyone will be talking about this morning at work, at least two people are a lot richer and probably not heading into the office today. sadly, i didn't even have one stinking number. lottery officials say winning tickets for the record $580 million powerball jackpot were sold in arizona and missouri. 160 million tickets were sold yesterday alone. at an astounding rate of 130,000 tickets a minute. the winner takes the cash option, they'll split a cool $380 million. that's $190 million apiece. it's the second largest payout in lotto history. you can be sure that uncle sam is smiling about his cut of the action. the federal tax rate is currently 25%.

so it will be $380 million the government gets $95 million off the top. and the winning states not too shabby either. arizona takes 5% at 9$9.5 millin and missouri stakes $7.6 millio. in the end, the two winning ticket holders end up with 25% of that original jackpot. mitt romney is heading to the white house today, just not in the capacity that he hoped for three weeks ago. this afternoon he'll sit down for a private lunch with president obama. it will be the first encounter since the final presidential debate in october. the meeting fulfills an election night promise by the president to work with romney going forward. that doesn't mean the former massachusetts governor will become a regular. >> is governor romney here tomorrow in some kind of cabinet level position? >> no. >> beyond that, is there some kind of reorganization in the

commerce department where governor romney could play a role? >> again, there is -- the president doesn't have a specific assignment in mind for the governor. >> earlier today, romney expected to meet with paul ryan. a top adviser for the romney campaign, stewart stephens, is out with an op-ed arguing that his candidate was the real winner on election day. he writes, "on november 6, romney carried the majority of every economic group except those making less than $50,000 a year. that means he carried the majority of the middle class. voters, yes, the republican party has problems but as we go forward, let's remember that any party that captures the majority of the middle class must be doing something right. republican ideals-mitt romney-carries the day." >> he argues that they stem from being charismatic african-american president with a billion dollars.

no primary in a media that felt morally conflicted about being critical. overseas markets are treading higher this morning on hopes that lawmakers here at home will reach a budget deal when it comes to taxes and entitlements. in a meeting with middle class americans yesterday, president obama said he believes the framework for a deal could be in place before christmas. >> and i'll go anywhere and i'll do whatever it takes to get this done. it's too important for washington to screw this up. now's the time for us to work on what we all agree to which is let's keep middle class taxes low. that's what our economy needs. that's what the american people deserve. >> the white house is also turning to social media in a new twitter hash tag to spread his message. >> today, i'm asking congress to listen to the people who sent us here to serve. i'm asking americans all across the country to make your voice heard. tell members of congress what a

$2,000 tax hike would mean you to. call your members of congress. write them an e-mail, post it on their facebook walls. you can tweet it using th the #my2k. not y2k, #my2k. >> they showed support for cutting a deal with the president. yesterday the oklahoma republican repeated his belief that congress should start by locking in tax cuts for the middle class. >> in my view, we all agree that we're not going to raise taxes on people that make less than $250,000. we should just take them out of this discussion right now, continue to fight against any rate increases, continue to try to work honestly for a much bigger deal. >> if the president is willing to accept 80% of the bush tax cuts for 98% of the american people, i think that's a point we should agree on, do that,

then continue to fight for the thing wez believe in simply because we accept that part of the offer doesn't mean we have to agree with the rest. >> john boehner earthed republicans to stick together during a closed door meeting before publicly pushing back against his colleague's comments. >> i told tom earlier in our conference meeting that i disagreed with him. the goal here is to grow the economy and control spending. you're not going to grow the economy if you raise tax rates on the top two rates. it will hurt small businesses or hurt our economy. >> meanwhile, president obama is again stepping into defend susan rice who was locked in a face-to-face power struggle with republicans on capitol hill for the second straight day. as nbc's andrea mitchell reports, it's not getting any easier for the women many believe who will be nominated for the next secretary of state. >> the primary purpose from my perspective -- >> with hillary clinton nodding

approval, the president sent a strong message to the republicans, don't mess with my u.n. ambassador. rice a welcomed signal that her nomination is still alive despite another brutal day on capitol hill. >> the u.n. ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of a contentious presidential election campaign. >> i would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. >> reporter: why is she such a lightning rod? even at 5'3" as a star point guard for washington's elite school, she is a rohde scholar, a combatant for democrats including john kerry and now her rival to become secretary of

state. and bill clinton's state department, she was in charge of african policy including controversial decisions on sudan. today republicans also blamed her for another security failure, the embassy bombings in kenya and tanzania 14 years ago and politics can be personal. in the 2008 obama campaign, rice ridiculed john mccain for wearing a flak jacket on a baghdad walking tour while claiming iraq was safer. >> that was andrea mitchell reporting. as most people focus on susan rice and john kerry as the frontrunners for the secretary of state job, a new report suggest that's former republican senator chuck hagel is also vetted by the white house for a potential security post. overseas, egyptian president mohamed morsi is expected to call for unity while addressing his nation today. tension still very high after he issued an edict that will give him sweeping power above the reach of judicial review until a

new constitution is adopted. they're rushing to finish a new draft of the constitution that could see a vote as early as today. but with protesters continuing to clash with riot police, a rushed constitution by the islamist dominated assembly may make matters worse. well now to business. according to the latest report from the federal reserve, the u.s. economy grew at a "measured pa pace" over the past two months with rises in hiring and consumer spending. let's go live to london. steve, what's the latest? yeah, there is a lot of interesting stories in the mix at the moment. the big story is still and will remain the fiscal cliff. every time a policymaker on capitol hill or in the white house makes a speech about this or a station to the media, the markets move very aggressively. yes, there is a case in point where boehner and obama said there was progress that could be made towards a compromise. the markets turn around to 220

points on the dow. but on 20 points and the dow having been down 110 closed up 106 points. that's because john boehner said they could well be some progress on a compromise. that flies in the face of harry reid saying little progress is made. that is what is driving the u.s. markets and the global markets as well. the fed's beige book says there is a tepid growth. you have the housing market against that manufacturing and superstorm sandy. interesting stats expected out of the auto sectors. this could be good news. we think there may ab a pace of somewhere in the region of 15.2 million cars sold in november. the fact is that americans got very old fleet of cars. the average age of car now is 11 years old. it's 20% of the cars on the road are 16 years old. maybe renewing the cars is a big factor. great numbers for abercrombie

and fitch, the shares are up 15%. this is a very well received set of numbers. >> you mentioned the abercrombie stuff. others are not doing well. i think i have figured out the differences between the two clothing companies. maybe it's the marketing campaign that is struggling. here's the classic abercrombie campaign. enough said. and here is aeropostale. buy your stock appropriately. thanks, steve. as always, shoot us an e-mail and let us know why you're awake or text the word awake to 622639. waited so long for. that we'll read the best responses later in the show. still ahead on "way too early," things get a little chippy last night in boston. rondo and kim kardashian's former husband take a fight into the first row. the clip is next in sports.

later, jon stewart takes aim at senator mccain over the susan rice controversy. that clip and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can.

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it's changing the conversation. ♪ all right. here we go. five, four, three, two, one. see, weather people are taking over. that was the scene at 30 raock lit you were last night. let's get a check on your weather from nbc meteorologist bill karins. really? am i going to do traffic next, too? >> no, we're just kidding, bill. we got an upgrade down at the plaza. we have dylan. >> she's going to look a million times better than i did yesterday. take it away, dylan. >> i'll take upgrade.

i was for you handling this all yourself. you're doing a fantastic job. here at rockefeller plaza, we have the christmas tree. it doesn't get much better than this as we kick off the holiday season. it's absolutely gorgeous out here. and there's no wind, too. it gets a little precarious looking when you have the gusty winds and all the lights on the trees. severing good to go this morning, this afternoon, tomorrow afternoon. for everyone going to pack this plaza, we are looking at just fantastic weather across the northeast and new york city especially. but the west coast is where we are going to see a whole lot of rain later on today. we also had lake-effect snow. you can see it sort of winding down in intensity. it is stretching all the way up to albany and birkshires and massachusetts. we're going to see that taper off as winds start to ease over lake ontario later on today. we are going to see another huge storm though hit western california and into oregon and washington state. we could end up with more than 12 inches of rain over the next

72 hours especially across northern california. but the eastern half of the country is looking really nice. we're going to see a lot of sunshine all through new york city, across the northeast, a little chilly right now in the 30s. but we're going to top out in the mid 40s later on this afternoon much as everyone heads on down to check out the christmas tree in person, it does look fantastic. bill, i guess now it's time to toss it back over to you. >> let me get this right, dylan, i get here for years and i get the assignment of standing in front of the tree unlit yesterday. the new girl comes in and she's standing in front of the magnificent bright tree looking fantastic. >> i heard it was a lot windier yest morning, too. right now it's not that bad. sorry about that. >> no problem. an upgrade it s. now to sports, the celtics inducted the brooklyn nets into the proud tradition of boston verse new york sports brawl. late in the second quarter, kevin garnett fouled hard by one kris humphries.

rondo takes exception with a forearm. here it is. there's the forearm, to mr. kardashian. he grabbed him about it throat and pushed him into the crowd and it's on. players from both teams start pushing and shoving into the stands. thankfully, none of those fans were injured. rondo, humphrey and the nets gerald wallace all ejected. rondo's streak by the way 37 games with double-double assists snapped because of his early exit. he could and should face a suspension from the league. in the end, my brooklyn nets win 95-83. after the game, the frustrated coach doc rivers criticized his team's effort. >> if i'm brooklyn you have to think we're soft the way we're playing. we're a soft team right now. we have no new toughness. i mean that stuff is not toughness. >> following the fight, kris humphries took to twitter to solicit medical advice.

posting this picture and asking what are we looking at? anyone know where i can get a quick tetanus shot in boston? so far kim has not replied. with the win, the nets improve to 10-4 and the celtics drop to 8-7. now a top five matchup, number two duke hosting fourth ranked ohio state. second quarter, duke on the fast break. quinton cook lobs it up. beautiful one handed dunk. later, blue devils steal. they push it ahead to the fresh man solomon. he goes to the rim for the finish. duke comes back from a double digit deficit to win this one. that's the third win already this season over a top five team. very impressive. now to college football. lsu's les miles ended speculation he would become the next head coach at arkansas. by agreeing to a seven-year contract that will keep him in baton rouge through 2019. that's leverage move there, les. "the washington post" reports that the new deal will pay miles

in the range of $3.4 million a year, that is an increase. miles' extension from lsu still falls short of the five-year 27 had the $5 million deal offered by the razorbacks. his agreement with the tigers still makes him the fourth highest paid coach in college football only behind this list. nick saban, mack brown and bob stoops. miles, by the way, has a record 85 wins and 20 losses in eight seasons with lsu. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," no, they're not letting me do that, today mitt romney lunches at the white house as he and president obama sit down for the first time after the election. we'll kick this around with a "morning joe" crew. whether we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler where there is more evidence you can see just about anything in new york city. i'm proof. in this case, it's a pony and a

streets. >> natalie wood was found dead today. los angeles county officials can only confirm the 43-year-old miss wood drowned by nothing further on the circumstances. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later. trust duracell to power their donated toys?

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if you want to sound smart, we told you at the top of the show the powerball jackpot is no longer up for grabs. officials confirm two winning tickets last night. should the winners choose the cash option, they'll split $384 million. dozens of other lucky winners take home the $1 million prize, 48 of those. check your numbers. even though you probably didn't hit the big money last night, you might still have something to celebrate. if you want to sound smart, tell your friends that in addition to the jackpot winners, almost nine million tickets won some sort of cash in the drawing. that includes the staff here of "way too early" which took home 63 cents per person. enough with the real news. let's gather around the water cooler to watch a zebra and pony

show on staten island yesterday. yes, you're looking at the rare sighting of a zebra and a pony running through a staten island shopping center. they saw the duo trotting by and captured this video. the zebra and his pony friend dodged cars on a busy boulevard before landing across the street, where else, nibbling at the plant center. it appears they escaped from a nearby petting zoo. who is going to a petting zoo in staten island, by the way? they were returned later in the day. the eyesight doesn't phase one witness who says you live in new york long enough, nothing really weirds you out. and now all you ladies looking for the perfect gift for those harry, pork loving men in your life, we have the answer. jay's bacon shaving cream. j & ds starts selling 2,500 jars of the stuff today. the company's co-founder told

the "l.a. times" they work with high end grooming companies to create the classy meat scented shave product. you can pick up a jar for $14.99 at baconshavingcream.com. and to satisfy the other bacon lovers on your list, the bacon flavored roses, envelopes and bacon mayo or, perhaps, the bacon coffee. the daily show breaks down the back and forth in washington over u.n. ambassador susan rice comments on the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> i don't even care about winning the $550 million. i just want to be paid with one of the giant checks. wouldn't that be great? take it to the bank, try to feed it into the atm? i know that lotto money is going to be mine. even though the drawing hasn't happened yet, even though the odds of winning are 175 million to 1.

because i bought 175 million tickets. and i'm guaranteed to win because every single one of these babies has the exact same lucky numbers. all right? so it's in the bank. i am mega rich. no more slaving away for the man 30 minutes a day, four days a week. >> you see, that was the controller's hating ritual usually when the wrong video airs, the anchor should interrupt but i let it breathe. still coming up, why you're awake. "morning joe" is moments away. [ male announcer ] this is bob, a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat. the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so.

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